Do you use up all of your energy in meeting your partner's needs? Do you feel trapped in your relationship? Are you the one that is constantly making sacrifices? Then you just may be in a co-dependent relationship. Co-dependency is a behavioral condition in a relationship where one person enables another person's addiction, poor mental health, immaturity, irresponsibility, or under-achievement. Among the core characteristics of co-dependency is an excessive reliance on other people for approval and a sense of identity. Who Does Co-Dependency Affect? Co-dependency often affects a spouse, a pare ..read more

A relationship break up is one of the more stressful life events anyone could go through but sometimes its just plain necessary. Sign #1: A loss of the Us-ness •Do they tell the 'story of us' in positive playful way keeping irritability and emotional distance in the closet. •When negativity takes over its hard to remember the good times. Sign #2: Weak Fondness and Admiration •There is a major difference between couples who last and couples who separate. Happy couples tell their Story of Us with warmth, affection, and respect for each other. •Couples who break up tend to recall unfavourable fir ..read more

•In any monogamous intimate relationship there are often people and things that can interfere in the strong connection between two people and become the third 'member' of the relationship. Instead of a strong bond or connection the relationship is diluted by this third entity. The energy that you need to put into the us of the relationship is shared between three components instead of two. This could include: •This 'threesome' could include: •a friend •a parent or family member •a child or children •a mobile phone •work •a pet •a hobby •the gym or exercise •your religion •a lover - this is see ..read more

Overview Menopause is the time that marks the end of your menstrual cycles. It's diagnosed after you've gone 12 months without a menstrual period. Menopause can happen in your 40s or 50s, but the average age is 51 in the United States. Menopause is a natural biological process. But the physical symptoms, such as hot flashes, and emotional symptoms of menopause may disrupt your sleep, lower your energy or affect emotional health. There are many effective treatments available, from lifestyle adjustments to hormone therapy. Symptoms In the months or years leading up to menopause (perimenopause ..read more

What is intimacy? The concept of intimacy involves a mutually consensual relationship where two individuals reciprocate feelings of trust, emotional and physical closeness toward each other. The 4 main types of intimacy include: 1. Intellectual intimacy Are you both on the same wavelength? Do you "get" each other? Can you talk 'til all hours of the night about anything and everything? 2. Emotional closeness Many couples may be together for a long time, but lack this type of intimacy. That's because this one is probably the scariest. When you are emotionally close, it means you are vulnerable ..read more

Let's talk about getting relationship fit. We get fit and healthy for summer or we get a service or tune up for our cars. Why don't we place as much effort and care into getting ready for a relationship as we do with other things in life? 1. Know what you want and what you don't want: •make a list of what your future partner's values would be •Family, money, relating to others, kindness •Not a shopping list of superficial things like looks, body type, height etc.. 2. Know your boundaries: •what are you not prepared to put up with? •smoker, abuser, alcoholic, violent •criticized and disrespecte ..read more

Dr Gary Chapman wrote The Five Love Languages in 1995. Chapman suggests that to discover another person's love language, one must observe the way they express love to others, and analyze what they complain about most often and what they request from their significant other most often. He theorizes that people tend to naturally give love in the way that they prefer to receive love, and better communication between couples can be accomplished when one can demonstrate caring to the other person in the love language the recipient understands. An example would be if a man does something he doesn't ..read more

In this episode, Di and Alex explore the difference between different styles of communication including Assertiveness, Passiveness and Aggressive behaviour and how some people confuse aggression for assertion. Di states that the main aim of effective communication is to create a win-win situation to get what you want without walking all over the other person ..read more

Holidays are meant to be a time of fun and unwinding but sometimes travelling with your partner can cause stress from being out of your normal routine and having to make decisions on things such as what to see and do. In this episode Di & Alex discuss practical tips for achieving a win-win when away, all from the back seat of a taxi in Indonesia ..read more

Di and Alex explore the two worlds of Mars and Venus and men and women. They discuss how females are great multi-taskers, while men excel in highly task-focused projects. They also share the notion that men's deepest fear is about being incompetent and not good enough whereas women can be unconsciously afraid of being worthy of love. Di brings up Mr fix it, man caves and touches on different love languages. Finally, they discuss the top 3 mistakes men and women make in relation to their partner's needs ..read more